A few hours ago the 2008 IRB Player of the Year Award was given to Shane Williams of Wales. Without wanting to diminish the brilliance of Williams’ award-winning year, I have to wonder what more Richie McCaw could have done to impress the IRB panel.
Consider these facts…
- He won every test-match he played in this year. Without him the ABs stumbled.
- He led the Crusaders to a Super 14 champtionship.
- He led the All Blacks to victories in the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup tournaments.
- He helped Keiran Read and Canterbury win the Air New Zealand Cup.
- He’s on the verge of leading the All Blacks to a second Grand Slam.
He never lost a game and he won every single cup on offer. Sheesh, what more could the guy have done to show he’s the greatest player in the game today?
What do you think?
Filed under: IRB, New Zealand, Richie McCaw, rugby
He could have at least got a nomination, despite being offside for most of the year he should be there
Oi! Captain Courageous is reserved for Stirling Mortlock ! And as if he deserved to win it, rightly so maybe a nomination, but just because he wins alot doesnt mean there arent 22 other players on the all blacks squad that didnt win the same as him this year! Its about individual brilliance, not just how well you captained the best side in the world(well at least until the next world cup coems around anyway). Stop your whinging!
Gallagher, actually there is only one other player in the AB squad who won the same proportion of games this year as Richie and that’s Stephen Donald. I’m not quite ready to put Donald’s name forward as co-Player of the Year, but by all means go for it if you think that’s a good idea.
The fact remains that when the ABs were without Richie at the beginning of the 3N, they were all at sea. When he came back for the decisive Auckland game they were a different team.
The ABs of 2008 are a depleted team, a shadow of their 2007 selves. The stars who stayed rather than headed for Europe are more valuable than ever. If you think the current crop of ABs are no worse off without Richie, you’re seriously misguided.
As for the Captain Courageous appellation, Mortlock was only made captain in 2006 and as far as I know the CC label was first given to him only this year by John O’Neill, after Mortlock re-signed with the ARU. Richie McCaw was first made captain of the All Blacks back in 2004. The NZ press have been calling him Captain Courageous for years.
Rugbyasteroid,
I never said it was a good idea to put up another All Black as Player of the Year, I merely stated that there are alot of All Blacks winning alot of games this year, there are also alot of Italians and Scottish players loosing alot of games. Just because a player wins alot(Richie McCaw) or looses alot (Sergio Parisee, Mike Blair) doesnt mean its the main factor, or even a large factor in deciding the winner. As shown by two nominees coming from low performing teams!
Your facts on Captian Courageous AMAZE me Rugbyasteroid. “as far as you know Mortlock has only been called CC this year” and “the NZ press have been calling Richie CC for years”
You definately proved me wrong there. Maybe its a case of blind bias? And I wonder how the vote of your poll on Richie McCaw goes?
Needless to say I chose not to vote.
I agree he should have got a nomination. Indeed I posted on the blog yesterday that I would have given it to him.
BUT I think Shane is a deserving winner as well. He was player of the tournament in the six nations where he was, for me, man of the match for 4 of the 5 games – inciuding vital scores created from nothing vs scotland, ireland and france.
Against SA on the tour he was Wales’ best player for teh first one, leaving habana lying in the mud for his try. For the 2nd he was the best player on the park… including a try that left 5 bokkes defenders falling over themselves.
McCaw was slightly better in my opinion, but I don’t think you can really knock Shanes’ selection either. He has had a truely magnificant year
Dear Rugby ABsteroid,
I have been eagerly awaiting the results of your “Who should’ve been IRB player of the year” poll. Have you managed to compile the results of this clearly unbiased and intriguing survey?
Just a note, there appeared to be a technical glitch with the website. Every time I tried to click away from McCaw’s name in the hope that there was another option in the poll, I was redirected to the Richie McCaw fan club website and send a volley of disparaging emails about my misguided views on rugby…
“ABsteroid” – I only just got that. Very clever. Unfortunately we can’t close that poll because the numbers are still rocketing in. On a related matter did you notice that the Great Richie McCaw lost his first international match of the year this past Wednesday? Of course it took 15 Wallabies plus 10 Springboks working together to make that happen. I blame Jake White. He should’ve told the Barbarians to just get the ball to Richie.
Rugbyasteroid – did you also notice who it was in that game that was the main threat to the aussies in the 2nd half? I’ll give you a clue, he came on at half time, set up a try with some quality work and won the IRB world player of the year…
Nick, thanks for your comment. Don’t get me wrong – I’m a big fan of Shane Williams and think he’s one of the most exciting players in the game. That said, I thought his performance for the Baa-baas was average. Apart from that nice pass inside to Rokocoko, he did little. My memory is of him running nowhere and getting slammed into the dirt by Wallaby backs several times. The Aussies had his number. And I couldn’t help but wonder why Jake White left the world’s best wing on the bench for half the match, while the world’s best flanker played the entire game, was involved in everything, and got the ball close to the line on several occasions. Even Jake White knew he had a better chance of winning the game if he played Richie for 80 minutes instead of just 40.